Gaming Library’s Flagship Event is BACK! | All aBoard 2.0 Highlights

Last Sunday, October 1st marked another memorable boardgaming experience as the team went to All aBoard 2.0, a celebration of all things tabletop and geek gaming.

Here are some of the stuff that went down during the event:

Of course, it wouldn’t be All aBoard if there weren’t any of those new hotness games that we got to try out at the venue for FREE! And there was really no shortage of games to play; there was something for everyone as evidenced by the capacity crowd that participated.

One game that instantly caught my eye is the cooperative game Unicornus Knights by AEG. The anime theme and wonderful components really got my attention.

There were also some gaming staples present on the table like Mysterium…

And that hard to find game Santorini!

Gaming Library also hosted a couple of exclusive events for brand new games! One of which was First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet, a title that was getting a lot of buzz on the venue. For the lucky attendees who got to try it out, they actually had the chance to play it first before anyone else, with a unique mission to boot!

Image courtesy of gaminglib.com

Cities of Splendor, the much awaited expansion to one of the most popular abstract games ever released, also got table time as well.

Another game that is worth mentioning here is this card game called Hugot (pull or draw upon) by Thomas Regala from The Epic Gaming Regiment and published by Ludus Distributors. Though it is played in the same vein as Cards Against Humanity, don’t let the simple mechanics fool you. There is some deep and emotional stuff that can be had here! Especially when played with the right minded crowd. More on this game here!

Lastly, I also got to participate in their Clank! Tournament. I’ve always wanted to try out that deck building game because it was one of the few DB games that had a board! What made it even better is the fact that your character had an actual, physical representation that moves around the table. And oh did I mention that all the participants get an exclusive Siren card absolutely FREE?

The game feels really similar to Ascension in terms of gameplay, as it both had a market area for cards and resources that you can use to buy cards and to fight! But what made the game shine for me was the Clank mechanic.

The game lets you play as burglars trying to infiltrate a dungeon full of treasures. Going deeper into the depths of the board of course will lead you to better stuff, but it comes at a cost!

Image taken from boardgamequest.com

You see, there’s a sleeping dragon below waiting to pounce on anyone who loots his lair! The players must be careful not to generate too much noise when going around the board as it generates Clank! (Represented by colored cubes that are eventually placed in a draw bag) At a certain point in the game the dragon can attack the players. You better make sure that you didn’t put much of your colors in the bag, as every cube pulled is a hit to your life… And when you reach zero, depending on your location in the map you can either be saved by the townsfolk (tallying all the VP’s you acquired) or if you died in the depths (the area below the middle line), you are actually eliminated in the game and bring home absolutely nothing!

As much as the game feels similar to other deck builders, what fascinated me is the push your luck mechanism. Clank! Gives provides high risk high rewards plays. It provides some excellent decision making where you constantly strike a balance on when to engage further and when it’s time to go back to the surface.

In the end, DuaneGalang got the distinguished title of being the Clank! 2017 champion and was rewarded the exclusive Siren card with the honorable mention of being number one. Kat Guison won the Golden Dragon figure that was raffled after the tournament.

Boardgaming with class! Check out the performing band at the back.

And that another solid session of games! As always, special thanks to Gaming Library for championing the cardboard cause. Till next time, see you at the table!

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